Moment of Decision
Title: Moment of Decision
Character/Pairing: Nine, Rose, Mickey
Setting: Rose
Rating: All ages
Summary: Do you live only the life you know or do you race into the unknown?
Disclaimer: Based on characters owned and created by BBC, used without permission. All dialog comes from the episode Rose.
Author's Notes: Thanks to bananasandroses for looking this over.
Rose and Mickey tumble out of the TARDIS. He can't get away fast enough. Rose, however, is bursting with energy and wants nothing more than to re-live every moment in her mind. Or, better yet, share it with someone. She's somewhere between sad and annoyed that Mickey just seems to want to escape and forget.
She turns back to see the Doctor leaning against the doorway.
"Nestene Consciousness," says with a click of his fingers, "easy."
He is entirely too smug, so she answers, "You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."
"Yes, I would. Thank you." His tone is strangely subdued. He looks away. Rose thinks he seems torn, knowing it's time for him to go but, for some reason, hesitating. "Right then," says more forcefully, "I'll be off." He pauses again. "Unless, I don't know... you could come with me."
Rose is taken aback for a moment. Could I really do that, she wonders. To travel? To see all those places she only knew from TV? Somewhere in the back of her mind, or maybe somewhere in her thudding heart, a strange longing stirs.
The Doctor waits for her answer a moment more before he adds, "This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."
She thinks about stars and planets and can only stare dumbly back. Dimly, she hears Mickey complain and the Doctor making it clear he's inviting her alone. But his last few words ring in her head. You could go anywhere. Anywhere. The longing grows and she thinks a small voice in her head is urging her: Go! Do it! So many possibilities lay within her reach.
But she hesitates. "Is it always this dangerous?"
She is unsurprised by the Doctor's affirmative, but the desire to go with him doesn't fade. She is just about to move forward, back to the amazing ship when Mickey traps her legs in a desperate embrace. Responsibility weighs her down. Her mind races, What about Mickey? What about Mum? I should check on her, see if she's all right after all this.
The words are incredibly hard to say but she forces them out. "Yeah, I can't. I've gotta go and find my mum and someone's gotta look after this stupid lump." She tries to sound carefree, but the laugh comes out hollow.
The Doctor looks at her so sadly and her heart breaks a little. As he closes the door, it breaks a little more. She is already feeling like she's made a terrible mistake. The little nagging voice in her mind agrees. It's screaming at her to run after him - to stop him from going and take her away with him. But she holds her ground and feels like it's the hardest thing she's ever done.
The box fades from view and he's truly gone. She feels nothing but tiredness, her enthusiasm lies flattened on the pavement. She wants desperately to leave; to try to forget what she has just given up.
"Come on, let's go." She pulls at Mickey impatiently and walks him away.
When she hears the sound, she thinks she is daydreaming for a moment. She turns back anyway and can scarcely believe it.
"By the way," the Doctor says all too casually as he leans out the door, "did I mention, it also travels in time?" With a smug grin, he vanishes inside leaving the door open for her. She feels as though everything in her life is converging on this one moment and the universe itself is holding its breath.
Go, that little voice whispers, Go.
This time Rose doesn't resist. With a quick goodbye, she goes, runs, toward an uncertain future.
And somewhere in a place both inside and outside of time, a lupine goddess smiles.
Character/Pairing: Nine, Rose, Mickey
Setting: Rose
Rating: All ages
Summary: Do you live only the life you know or do you race into the unknown?
Disclaimer: Based on characters owned and created by BBC, used without permission. All dialog comes from the episode Rose.
Author's Notes: Thanks to bananasandroses for looking this over.
Rose and Mickey tumble out of the TARDIS. He can't get away fast enough. Rose, however, is bursting with energy and wants nothing more than to re-live every moment in her mind. Or, better yet, share it with someone. She's somewhere between sad and annoyed that Mickey just seems to want to escape and forget.
She turns back to see the Doctor leaning against the doorway.
"Nestene Consciousness," says with a click of his fingers, "easy."
He is entirely too smug, so she answers, "You were useless in there. You'd be dead if it wasn't for me."
"Yes, I would. Thank you." His tone is strangely subdued. He looks away. Rose thinks he seems torn, knowing it's time for him to go but, for some reason, hesitating. "Right then," says more forcefully, "I'll be off." He pauses again. "Unless, I don't know... you could come with me."
Rose is taken aback for a moment. Could I really do that, she wonders. To travel? To see all those places she only knew from TV? Somewhere in the back of her mind, or maybe somewhere in her thudding heart, a strange longing stirs.
The Doctor waits for her answer a moment more before he adds, "This box isn't just a London hopper, you know, it goes anywhere in the universe free of charge."
She thinks about stars and planets and can only stare dumbly back. Dimly, she hears Mickey complain and the Doctor making it clear he's inviting her alone. But his last few words ring in her head. You could go anywhere. Anywhere. The longing grows and she thinks a small voice in her head is urging her: Go! Do it! So many possibilities lay within her reach.
But she hesitates. "Is it always this dangerous?"
She is unsurprised by the Doctor's affirmative, but the desire to go with him doesn't fade. She is just about to move forward, back to the amazing ship when Mickey traps her legs in a desperate embrace. Responsibility weighs her down. Her mind races, What about Mickey? What about Mum? I should check on her, see if she's all right after all this.
The words are incredibly hard to say but she forces them out. "Yeah, I can't. I've gotta go and find my mum and someone's gotta look after this stupid lump." She tries to sound carefree, but the laugh comes out hollow.
The Doctor looks at her so sadly and her heart breaks a little. As he closes the door, it breaks a little more. She is already feeling like she's made a terrible mistake. The little nagging voice in her mind agrees. It's screaming at her to run after him - to stop him from going and take her away with him. But she holds her ground and feels like it's the hardest thing she's ever done.
The box fades from view and he's truly gone. She feels nothing but tiredness, her enthusiasm lies flattened on the pavement. She wants desperately to leave; to try to forget what she has just given up.
"Come on, let's go." She pulls at Mickey impatiently and walks him away.
When she hears the sound, she thinks she is daydreaming for a moment. She turns back anyway and can scarcely believe it.
"By the way," the Doctor says all too casually as he leans out the door, "did I mention, it also travels in time?" With a smug grin, he vanishes inside leaving the door open for her. She feels as though everything in her life is converging on this one moment and the universe itself is holding its breath.
Go, that little voice whispers, Go.
This time Rose doesn't resist. With a quick goodbye, she goes, runs, toward an uncertain future.
And somewhere in a place both inside and outside of time, a lupine goddess smiles.